We enjoyed our last chance to sleep in this month because the tour group didn’t meet up until 1 pm today.  We met our tour leaders and local guides as we divided into two groups of 20 for the day.  Our first stop was at Sanjusangendo, a temple from 1266 famous for its long line of 1001 gilt-wood statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy.  There is one very large Kannon with 500 smaller Kannons on each side.  The name means “Hall with Thirty-Three Spaces between Columns” to indicate that its a very long building (360 feet).  It’s used for archery contests every year as the archers have to shoot at a target about 200 feet down the length of the building.  The Kannons are beautiful even though some have lost most of the gold leaf they once had.

Note: temples belong to the Buddhist religion which came from India, while shrines are dedicated to Shintoism which is the original nature and ancestor worshiping religion in Japan.  Our guide told us that most Japanese believe in both.  Buddhist temples are generally used for deaths and often have a cemetery nearby.  Shrines are used for more current events such as births and weddings.  If you want more information, click here.

Our second stop was at Fushimi Inari, a Shinto shrine with tunnel-like paths formed by a line of over 1,000 orange torii gates.  The older structures were installed in 711, but the large shrine wasn’t built until 1499.  The path leads up the Inari mountain (764′), and the gates are donated by businesses either to make a wish or give thanks for a wish fulfilled.  The smaller gates cost about $5,000, while larger ones can go to $40,000 or more. There were a lot of tourists at both the temple and the shrine, and the path leading to the shrine was lined with dozens of souvenir and food booths.  Images of foxes are often found in Inari shrines, sometimes holding a key to the rice granary in their mouths.

At 6:15 pm, some people in the group (Tom, but not me) headed out for a walk through geisha Pontocho district and the higher end Gion quarter.  Unfortunately, it was a wet and windy evening.  The streets are lit by traditional Japanese lanterns and house exclusive geisha communities and small dining places.  The walks ended at the Yakata shrine used by the geisha (built 1656). Geisha are called ‘geiko’ (“gay-ko”) in Kyoto.

Cheryl

Here are some photos from the Sanjusangendo temple, starting with Sue and Wiggie, our tour guides today:

Here are photos from the Fushimi Inari shrine:

And these are from the night walk (starting with a view of our hotel, the tallest building in Kyoto).  No buildings were supposed to be over 60 m high because that was the height of the tallest temple in Kyoto, and our hotel exceeded it.  Guests staying in the hotel were rejected by the local shops because the monks were upset.  Somehow, the disagreement was settled (could it have been a giant donation to the temple?).